The present invention relates to an apparatus especially adapted to remove debris from house gutters to effect their cleaning.
Gutters attached to houses, apartments, and buildings rapidly lose their water conveying function when the gutter trough becomes blocked or plugged by debris. Such debris not only retards the unrestricted flow of water therethrough but also can isolate sections of water in sections creating a pool ripe for breeding noxious insects. Further, such debris can become lodged in the mouth of the downspout even to such an extent that during heavy rains the water entirely fills the gutter and is forced to overflow the front edge of the gutter. Without a screen or similar device over the mouth of the downspout, the debris can additionally become lodged in the downspout to retard or totally prevent water from flowing therethrough. Debris typically found in gutters includes leaves, sticks, loose matter from shingles on the roof and the like.
The traditional manner in which gutters have been cleaned necessitates a person venturing up a ladder to physically remove the debris by hand or with the aid of a broom or similar device. On many occasions a hose is taken to the top of the ladder for throughly washing down and cleaning the gutter. The debris removed from the gutter most often merely is thrown down on the ground for collection later or can be placed in a bucket which must be suspended from the top of the ladder or held by the person cleaning the gutter. Unfortunately, many people each year are injured when they fall off the ladder while cleaning their gutters. Even should injury not befall the person cleaning the gutter, precarious positions often are required by the person in order to effectively clean the gutter while the person tries to simultaneously hold a bucket or like receptacle for placing the debris removed from the gutter, or using a broom or the like to try to push debris down the gutter to one end. Further complicating this seemingly simple procedure is the fact that the gutters are located on the eaves of the house which extend away from the wall of the house. This means that the ladder must be placed against the gutter which is not recommended as damage to the gutter can ensue thereby or the ladder must be placed up against the wall below the eave. In such a position, the person cleaning the gutter must assume an extremely precarious and awkward position on the ladder almost to an extent of leaning backwards from the house in order to reach the gutter for its cleaning. Moreover, since the person often is reaching over his head to clean the gutter and cannot see inside the gutter, a hornets' nest often is grasped unknowingly.
Though aids and devices have heretofor been proposed whereby the gutters can be cleaned from the ground, no such device has found any favor in the marketplace. The present invention now provides a simple and effective gutter cleaning apparatus which can be operated from the ground and which can be utilized for removing debris from the gutter and for washing down the trough of the gutter for its cleaning.